Variability in egg size and population declines of Herring Gulls in relation to fisheries and climate conditions

Bennett, Jessica L.; Jamieson, Ellen; Ronconi, Robert A.; Wong, Sarah N. P.

doi:10.5751/ace-01118-120216

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Declines in Herring Gull abundance have been observed at colonies across Atlantic Canada and the northeastern United States [14, 15]. These declines have been correlated with decreases in fisheries discards due to the collapse of groundfish fisheries and reduced forage fish availability [16, 17], however this is most likely to influence abundance through effects on chick survival rather than adult survival [18, 19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Winter home range and habitat selection differs among breeding populations of herring gulls in eastern North America

et al. 2019

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Background Recognizing the factors influencing migratory individuals throughout their annual cycle is important for understanding the drivers of population dynamics. Previous studies have found that Herring Gulls ( Larus argentatus ) in the Atlantic region have lower survival rates than those in the Great Lakes and the Arctic. One possible explanation for divergent survival rates among these populations is differences in their non-breeding habitats. Methods We tracked Herring Gulls from five populations, breeding in the eastern Arctic, the Great Lakes, Newfoundland, Sable Island, and the Bay of Fundy. We assessed the extent of migratory connectivity between breeding and wintering sites, and tested if there were differences in home range size or habitat selection among these populations during the winter. Results The tracked Herring Gulls had strong migratory connectivity between their breeding and wintering areas. We found that Herring Gulls from the Arctic spent most of the winter in marine habitats, while the other populations used a wider variety of habitats. However, the Newfoundland and Sable Island populations selected for urban habitats, and almost all individuals the specialized in urban habitats came from one of the three Atlantic populations. Conclusions Our results suggest that there could potentially be a link between urban habitat use during the winter and reduced adult survival in Atlantic Canada Herring Gulls. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s40462-019-0152-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Winter home range and habitat selection differs among breeding populations of herring gulls in eastern North America

et al. 2019

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“…Interestingly, we found that the historically sampled eggs (sampled between 1893 and 1984 from across Australia), were significantly larger than those sampled from a single contemporary population in western New South Wales, which were 8% smaller. This size difference may reflect ecologically determined temporal or spatial variation (Barrett et al , Bennett et al ), and it would be interesting to explore differences across additional contemporary populations. An intriguing alternative possibility is that egg volume may have recently declined with a changing climate (Skwarska et al ), in line with climate‐related plasticity in body size in this species (Andrew et al ), and changes over the past century observed in the body size of other species in Australia (Gardner et al ), and worldwide (Møller et al ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Egg size is unrelated to ambient temperature in the opportunistically breeding zebra finch

Griffith

Andrew

McCowan

et al. 2020

Journal of Avian Biology

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In many birds, there is significant variation in egg size both across and within clutches that remains to be explained. Birds lay one egg per day and in hot climates, the first laid eggs may start to develop before the laying of the rest of the clutch is complete, through warming by the ambient air temperature. Here, we test the hypothesis that in hot conditions, skews in egg size across the laying sequence may be more pronounced, as females use egg size to compensate for hatching asynchrony, providing a higher level of provisioning to the later laid eggs that would hatch later due to ambient incubation. We have focused on the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata, a species that typically breeds over an extended period of the year, and therefore across a particularly wide range of ambient temperatures. We characterised the variation in egg size using data from over 700 clutches, including historical specimens, a wild population, and both domesticated and wild birds breeding in captivity, in addition to clutches produced experimentally in controlled‐temperature rooms. Here, we document significant variation in egg size between and within clutches, with eggs increasing in size over the laying order, with both maternal identity and population differences playing an important role (domesticated birds laid eggs that were much larger than their wild counterparts). However, we found no support for the idea that variation in egg size either within a clutch, and across clutches and populations, is related to variation in ambient temperature, despite the large range of thermal environments experienced during laying. In conclusion, whilst egg size is clearly a labile characteristic there is no evidence this is flexibly adjusted to local ambient temperatures before and during laying.

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“…This result suggests that gull presence is an active influence upon where storm-petrels dig their nest burrows but has little effect on the overall number of storm-petrels nesting in any given area. Recent findings show that the population of Herring Gulls on Kent Island has decreased by 36% since 2001 (Bennett et al 2017) and a decrease in predation pressure might have occurred as a result. Declines in prey availability have resulted in increased predatory efforts toward smaller seabird species and decreased breeding success in gulls (Regehr andMontevecchi 1997, Stenhouse andMontevecchi 1999).…”

Section: Influence Of Predation On Nest Site Usementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Declines in prey availability have resulted in increased predatory efforts toward smaller seabird species and decreased breeding success in gulls (Regehr andMontevecchi 1997, Stenhouse andMontevecchi 1999). However, declining gull populations could result in less competition over resources and an associated increase in productivity or breeding success (e.g., Bennett et al 2017), which may result in decreased predation on storm-petrels, but these dynamics between predator-prey relationships for conesting seabirds remain poorly known.…”

Section: Influence Of Predation On Nest Site Usementioning

confidence: 99%

Breeding population decline and associations with nest site use of Leach’s Storm-Petrels on Kent Island, New Brunswick from 2001 to 2018

d’Entremont¹,

Zitske²,

Gladwell³

et al. 2020

ACE

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Leach's Storm-Petrels (Hydrobates leucorhous) are burrow-nesting seabirds that breed on coastal islands throughout much of the North Atlantic, with most of the world's population breeding in Atlantic Canada. Population declines in the past 20-30 years have resulted in the species being uplisted to "Vulnerable" on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. One of the species' most well-studied colonies is on Kent Island, New Brunswick in the Bay of Fundy. To determine if this colony has faced declines over a similar timescale, census work was conducted in June and July of 2000/2001 and 2018. Forty-one east-west transects in 2000/2001 (516 plots) and 56 east to west transects in 2018 (678 plots) were established every 50 m along the length of the island, which were censused with 10 m² plots. Population estimates were calculated by extrapolating mean occupied burrow density over the area of suitable nesting habitat on the island. Additionally, habitat characteristics and predator presence were recorded within each plot, and classification and regression tree (CART) analysis was used to determine which environmental factors affected burrow densities and occupancy rate. The estimated number of breeding pairs for the entire island in 2018 was 21,643 (CI 16,942-26,343) and has declined at an annual rate of-1.79% (CI-3.28% to-0.25%) since 2000/2001 (29,416 CI 23,015-35,817 pairs), though population trends varied across the island with forested habitat experiencing a large decline and the open habitat experiencing a marginal increase. CART models revealed that occupied burrow densities were highest in areas dominated by ferns or shrub/bramble that had no signs of forest regrowth, and had low gull nesting densities. Our results suggest that Leach's Storm-Petrels are declining at the southern extent of their range at similar rates exhibited at northern colonies, especially in forested habitat where habitat change may be influencing nest-site use. Déclin de la reproduction de la population et associations avec l'utilisation des sites de nidification des pétrels cul-blanc sur Kent Island, dans le Nouveau-Brunswick, de 2001 à 2018 RÉSUMÉ. Les pétrels cul-blanc (Hydrobates leucorhous) sont des oiseaux marins nichant dans des terriers, qui se reproduisent sur les îles côtières le long d'une grande partie de la côte nord-Atlantique, principalement le long de la côte Atlantique du Canada. Leur population a décliné au cours de 20 à 30 dernières années, de sorte que cette espèce est désormais classée comme « vulnérable » sur la Liste rouge des espèces menacées de Union Internationale pour la Conservation de la Nature. L'une des colonies les plus étudiées de cette espèce habite Kent Island, dans le Nouveau-Brunswick, dans la baie de Fundy. Pour déterminer si cette colonie a décliné au cours de la même période, un recensement a été effectué en juin et juillet 2000/2001 et 2018. Quarante-et-un transects est-ouest en 2000/2001 (516 parcelles) et 56 transects est-ouest en 2018 (678 parcelles) é...

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Variability in egg size and population declines of Herring Gulls in relation to fisheries and climate conditions

Cited by 13 publications

References 30 publications

Winter home range and habitat selection differs among breeding populations of herring gulls in eastern North America

Winter home range and habitat selection differs among breeding populations of herring gulls in eastern North America

Egg size is unrelated to ambient temperature in the opportunistically breeding zebra finch

Breeding population decline and associations with nest site use of Leach’s Storm-Petrels on Kent Island, New Brunswick from 2001 to 2018

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Variability in egg size and population declines of Herring Gulls in relation to fisheries and climate conditions

Cited by 13 publications

References 30 publications

Winter home range and habitat selection differs among breeding populations of herring gulls in eastern North America

Winter home range and habitat selection differs among breeding populations of herring gulls in eastern North America

Egg size is unrelated to ambient temperature in the opportunistically breeding zebra finch

Breeding population decline and associations with nest site use of Leach&#8217;s Storm-Petrels on Kent Island, New Brunswick from 2001 to 2018

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Breeding population decline and associations with nest site use of Leach’s Storm-Petrels on Kent Island, New Brunswick from 2001 to 2018